Five Pronged Approach to Better Health and Less Pain Naturally

A Five-Pronged Approach to
Better Health
and Less Pain Naturally!

 by

Kathryn Merrow

Notice:  This is a free Special Report.

You are welcome to share it or give it away.

You DO NOT have the right to sell it.

© copyright Kathryn Merrow
Mind Touch Communications LLC

Disclaimer and/or legal notices:

The information presented herein represents the view of the author (me) as of the date of publication.  The author reserves the right to alter and update her opinion.

If you have any reason to believe, due to your personal medical history or condition, that the approaches that I — or anyone else — suggest may cause any existing medical problems to become aggravated or worse, then do not do them.

I believe that your body is smart and wants to be well.  Sometimes it just needs a little help from you or from others.

However, in the end, you are responsible for your well-being.  If something seems to you to not be right for you, follow your instincts.  Pay attention to the wisdom of your body.

I am not a medical doctor.  I am a person just like you, who has a lot of experience and knowledge about how bodies get pain and get rid of pain.  I have dealt with a lot of pain, both my own and that of clients, and have seen how our bodies can heal if we give them what they need to get better.

I thank you for letting me help you on your journey to pain relief, but you are the one who gets to make the final decisions.  Please make them wisely.

The Five-Pronged Approach to
Better
Health and Less Pain Naturally!

You have a smart body but your body has needs.  It wants to be well but it has needs that must be met.  When you supply all of those needs, your body will be healthier.  You will have less pain.  You will have so many health benefits!

Here are 5 of the best ways to ensure that your health will stay good or get better.

While other factors will also help you grow older gracefully and with the least amount of pain and discomfort, these 5 will get you on the road to vibrant health.

Eat Your Way to Better Health

Once upon a time, all we humans could eat came from the ground, animals or fish.  It didn’t come from factories.  It grew naturally.

Our bodies knew what to do with the food we ate then.

More and more, I believe that our bodies just don’t know how to handle things we eat that are processed in factories.  Sure, sometimes lots of fresh produce goes into factories, but what comes out?  It’s just not the same when our “food” is laced with chemicals (lots of them based on petroleum—you know, the stuff you put in your car.)

Because “food” that comes out of factories is much different than what we were designed to eat:

1.  It may not absorb properly; we can’t get all the nutrients.

2.  Many nutrients may have been removed in processing (for instance, whole grains reduced to “white.”)  Whole grains contain B-vitamins.  Disorders like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome are often caused by a B-6 deficiency and B-12 deficiency contributes, too.

3.  Chemicals and additives are added for “taste” and shelf life.  (Did you know there is a whole chemical industry devoted to developing new flavors and scents so we will buy more products?)

We weren’t designed to eat petroleum products and “spices” from chemistry labs.  (Did you know that “spices” doesn’t mean what you & I think it does?  “Spices” are not required to grow.  If the label says spices, we really don’t know what’s in there!)

4.  Pesticides and herbicides are used in growing non-organic produce.  When we eat the produce, we eat all of that, too.  It accumulates in our bodies and makes us sick in many ways.

Fresh organic foods cost more, but they also benefit you much more.  Why?

1.  Fresh, raw or lightly cooked organic vegetables and fruits contain all the “good stuff” but none of the chemicals and additives that can make you sick.  (If you buy processed organic food in packages, you still have to read the labels to see what else might be in it, especially if you buy snack foods.)

2.  Your body was built to eat foods that came from nature, not from a factory.

3.  Organic meat has no hormones, pesticides or herbicides “added.”

You may have seen headlines that say “organic food isn’t any better than non-organic.”  Well, maybe the nutrients are the same but something’s missing:  chemicals.  Artificial ingredients made in labs.  Stuff like that.

But if organic foods are too expensive for you, just do your best.  And if spinach is a favorite of yours, try to at least get that in the organic section.  As more people are becoming and eating healthier, the prices of organic produce and foods are coming down.

And, here’s a tip for you that won’t cost any extra money.

Fish that is “wild caught” is not raised in cages and laced with antibiotics, etc., like “farm raised.”  Farm raised sounds healthy, but it’s not.

Also, all canned salmon is wild caught.

You can find more info on healthy eating & food at Simple Pain Relief.  Scroll down through the Categories to “Diet” or “Nutrition.”

When you feed your stomach, you are also feeding your whole body.

If your muscles and soft tissues have what they need to be healthy–and if you can get rid of the additives, hormones, spices, chemicals, pesticides and herbicides that are in most non-organic foods–your tissues will have the opportunity to become healthier.

That includes your whole body!

Sleep Your Way to Better Health

You already know you need sleep.  The question is, how much?  Everyone has different sleep needs but chances are good that if you have to have an alarm clock to wake up, or you’re tired all day, you’re just not getting enough.

There are other things that can cause you to feel tired and lacking energy also.

You may have an endocrine disorder.   Lots of older women (my doctor says 20%!) have a low thyroid disorder.

You may have diabetes.  In that case, you are probably being treated by a doctor already.

You may have a diet which is heavy into heavily processed foods, soda pop, sweets and other things that you know in your heart just aren’t good for you.

So what will help you to get all of the sleep you need?

Your body starts to regenerate itself at 10 pm.  This means 10 pm is when you should be in bed so your body can do its job.

Your room should be slightly on the cool side, around 70° F works well for most of us.  If you prefer it cooler, that’s also fine as long as you are sleeping well.

Darkness enhances sleep.  Lights should all be out.  We are built to sleep when it’s dark and waken when light hits our closed eyelids.

A comfortable mattress makes a big difference.  If yours is over 10 years old or you can’t get comfortable, consider a new one.  Actually lay on each mattress you are considering for several minutes (not just one minute, several minutes.)  Get into the positions you usually use and see how each mattress fits you.

I watched a woman in a store flip and turn and practice “sleeping” on a mattress for half an hour.  Smart woman!

Pillows matter, too.  Ideally, your neck and head are well-supported if you are a side sleeper.  If you sleep on your back (which prevents shoulder, upper back, neck and head pain for many of us) then your pillow should give gentle support to the curve of your neck but not “push” your head forward.

You want to sleep in the most neutral position possible to let all of your muscles relax.

If you have trouble falling asleep, try soft music, gentle stretching, a warm bath or warm milk.  Something that works very well for some is a cup of cottage cheese at bedtime.   A boring book may also work.

If you sleep with your television in your bedroom and it’s turned on when you drift off, the sounds and flickering lights will interfere with your sleep.

Make your bedroom a “sleep oasis.”  If you have to have electronic equipment in the same room you sleep in, turn it all off and cover it with a sheet.  If it’s your computer work space, work will keep calling to you unless you cover it or screen it.

A good night’s sleep will benefit you in many ways so do your best to make it happen every night.

Supplement Your Way to Better Health

It could be that almost ALL of us have vitamin and mineral deficiencies or “insufficiencies.”

A deficiency is more severe but an insufficiency (not enough) can also cause symptoms.  Why?

Because there are nutrients that your body needs.  If your body doesn’t get the nutritional things that it requires, you will have one type of disease or another.  Your muscles won’t be able to function as they were designed and neither will your brain or other organs.

Calcium, potassium, magnesium and iron are major minerals that are required for muscle health and function.  If you don’t have enough, it increases the irritability of myofascial (muscle and fascia) trigger points.  Trigger points cause muscle pain.

Calcium is essential (necessary) to the muscles so they can do their best job.  Magnesium and potassium are also essential because they interact with calcium and are related to muscle health and contraction.

All of the parts of your body work together.  So do all the vitamins.  So do all the minerals.

If you take calcium, but don’t take Vitamin D3 (the sunshine vitamin) you won’t be able to absorb the calcium.

If you don’t take magnesium and potassium, calcium won’t absorb properly.

There are many nutrients that we need to function fully and well, and they act together and interact with each other.

Calcium is related to myofascial (muscle and fascia) pain.  If you are deficient in calcium, you will feel pain symptoms more than if you have enough calcium in your tissues.

There lots of foods that have calcium other than dairy.  Dark leafy greens are one.  They also have potassium just as bananas do.

If you have a feeling that you may be not getting all of the nutrients you need, you are probably right!

In that case, you may wish to take a very good nutritional supplement which includes a WHOLE LOT of vitamins and minerals.

Don’t just run over to the drugstore; check out a health food store or other very good source and get a multi-vitamin and mineral that is potent.  You want enough to make you healthy not just to prevent you from becoming sick.

If you eat the Standard American Diet (SAD), you most likely are NOT getting all of these essential minerals and all of the vitamins you need.  If your diet is high in fat, highly refined foods, fast foods, lots of sugar and table salt, that will lead to deficiencies.

Without sufficient magnesium, potassium and Vitamin D3, your body won’t be able to get all the calcium you need from your food or calcium supplement.

The “sunshine vitamin” is D3.  When sunlight hits your bare skin, it creates vitamin D.  Unless you live in an area where you get a lot of skin exposure to sun on a daily basis, there are vitamin D3 supplements.  It is cheap health insurance.  In fact, take two.  I continuously read of more and more benefits of D3.

When you give your body everything it needs to be healthy and heal, you will have less pain and better health; much better.

Stretch Your Way to Better Health

There are muscles we use all the time.  They tend to get short.  These muscles are usually in the front of your body.

There are muscles we over-stretch often.  They like to complain.  These muscles are generally in the back of your body—the back of your neck, shoulders and back.

Stretch the short muscles.  They are the ones who need it most.  Stretching the short front-of-body muscles will help you stay “balanced” and feel better for the rest of your life.

Strengthen Your Way to Better Health

Osteoporosis is not something we want to have.  What we really want are strong, healthy bones.

Why am I telling you this when I’m supposed to be talking your about strength?  Because aching backs, headaches, osteoporosis and many age-related diseases and disorders are related to strength and posture.

Posture?  Yes.  Good posture will prevent pain and will help you grow older gracefully.

It’s really common to see people with their heads in front of their bodies.  Sometimes their heads are really far ahead of their bodies.  This is not good.

We were built so that all of our bones basically stack up, one on top of the other.  When our posture is perfect (like it was when we were young children) then our bones support our bodies.

When you start to fall into a collapsed posture–when you get a “forward head”–then you start using muscles to hold your body up.  Your muscles are not designed to hold you up; that’s what your bones are for.

When your posture is once again nice and straight, your bones will be supporting your whole body as they used to.

When your bones are supporting your body, they are “working.”  When they do the job they were designed to do, there is correct pressure on your bones.  This pressure helps your bones to stay and become dense and strong.

Skeletons need to be stacked up properly so your bones will work to support you, and so they will be strong.

When bones are not “working” to support you, they become weak.  So osteoporosis is caused by not letting your bones do their job.  If we take the correct muscle pressure off the bones, they can’t rebuild themselves as they should.

But, when your skeleton is stacked in “neutral,” as it should be, inappropriate pressure is taken off your muscles.  Now, your muscles can easily do what they are supposed to do: their job is to let you move.

And, so, since muscles move bones, getting strong muscles on your back side will help move your bones back into the neutral position they need to be and avoid osteoporosis and muscle aches and pains.  Good posture will help you grow older with health and grace.

There are other factors that will help you have the best possible health, the least amount of pain and will allow you to grow older without growing old but these 5 steps will help you get a running start to great health.

There is more simple, natural relief waiting for you at

BackPainFreedom.com

Wishing for You the Best of Health…because You Deserve It!

Kathryn Merrow
The Pain Relief Coach

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